Fire Detection Algorithms Using Multimodal ... - Bilkent University

Chapter 4Short Range Smoke Detection inVideoSmoldering smoke appears before flames in most fires. In addition, the sourceof the fire and flames cannot always fall into the field of view of a camera ora sensor monitoring an area of interest. Long Wave Infra-Red (LWIR) camerasand pyro-electric infra-red (PIR) sensors which are used in flame detection arenot suitable for smoke detection. Contrary to the common belief, smoke cannotbe visualized in 8 − 12µm range LWIR cameras and sensors including ForwardLooking Infra-Red (FLIR) cameras and PIR sensors [76, 44]. However, smoke ofan uncontrolled fire can be easily observed by a visible range camera even if flamesare not visible. This results in early detection of fire before it spreads around.This is vital for fire alarm systems when large and open areas are monitored.A novel method to detect smoke in video is described in this chapter. Thechapter begins with the introduction of the video smoke detection method. InSection 4.3, contour analysis is described. Experimental results are presented inChapter 4.4.54